Golf clubs of the type known as “woods” are commonly used in the sport of golf. The heads of such clubs may be made of metal (e.g. stainless steel), high-tech plastic, or reinforced plastic. If made of metal, these heads are sometimes referred to as “metal woods”. For purposes of this description, the use of the term “wood” shall be intended to include driving clubs made of metal, plastic, graphite, and the like.
Metal woods present numerous options to the golf club manufacturer to provide customized weight and balance for a golfer, whether amateur or professional. It is not uncommon for a golfer, in order to improve the accuracy of their game, to seek a club with an enlarged “sweet spot” (i.e. that area on the striking face of a club that, upon impact with the ball, will send the ball on a preferred trajectory, without hooking or slicing). In addition, most golfers prefer a golf club head that is generally lightweight but configured to perform as if a significant portion of its weight were located behind the sweet spot. Hollow metal heads may be engineered to incorporate these desired features into a given golf club.
A problem associated with some clubs is that the substantially flattened striking surface supported around its edge acts like a drum when struck. That is, the relatively thin metal striking plate is free to deflect upon impact and then rebound. The nature and direction of the rebound depends on the location of the point of impact on the striking surface and can affect the speed, rotation, and direction of the golf ball as it leaves the club-head, thereby affecting the trajectory of the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,211 issued Nov. 7, 1995 and entitled “GOLF CLUB HEAD” attempts to solve this problem by providing a rigid, unyielding striking surface. A striking surface having an inner surface and an outer surface is coupled to an opposed rear portion to form the golf club head body. A partially threaded stem having an externally threaded proximal portion and a broadened distal portion with a substantially flat surface threadably engages an internally threaded cylinder within the head body such that when the stem is threaded into the head body, the distal flat surface of the broadened portion of the stem applies a compressive force to the inner surface of the striking face. The amount of force may be adjusted by turning the threaded portion of the stem. In this manner, the impact zone on the striking face of the club is rendered more rigid.
Unfortunately, the above described apparatus has certain disadvantages. For example, due to the rigid design of the jackscrew/stem assembly including the broadened distal end, and because the ball is not always struck at a location on the striking surface corresponding to the center of the broadened distal end of the stem, significant bending stresses are transmitted to the entire stem assembly eventually damaging the assembly with repeated use.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved golf club head that provides a more rigid, unyielding striking surface or impact zone. It would further be desirable that the improved golf club head be sturdier and more reliable than prior art devices. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanied drawings and the background of this invention.